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How to make a trendy French appetizer

Do you know what is a ¨verrine¨? This is the new trendy appetizer in France!

Do you want to know more about it and how to impress your guests at your next dinner or party?

In French, verrine is a small glass. Some years ago, we started to find appetizers served in small glasses. This was following the finger food and tapas trend that is more and more popular everywhere.

A verrine can be defined as a small dish savory or sweet where different ingredients are layered in the glass in order to create harmonious colors and texture. The verrine can be an appetizer, starter or dessert.

The different type of small glasses, ingredients mix and colors are so huge that it lets everyone to create his own recipe!

Do you get the idea?

Let's go to the practice now!

Before to start cooking, first look into your cupboards if you have small glasses like tequila or liquor glasses, tea glasses...

As appetizer, you don´t need to have bigger glasses than 30 ml. If your verrine is a starter or dessert, you can have them a little bit bigger till 300 ml. Nowadays, you can find small glasses in a lot of places, or you can buy some plastic one as well.

I will give you some easy recipes, I have been doing for a long time and that are always successful! I hope you will find your inspiration and can send me some of your ideas!

Quantities are for 4 to 6 persons.

1/ Avocado tartar and marinated salmon verrine

- 1 avocado ready to eat

- 1 lime

- 1 lemon

- 100 gr. of smoked salmon

- 1 handful of fresh coriander or dill

- 2 drops of Tabasco

- 1 tbsp. of olive oil

- Salt and pepper

In a bowl, you place the avocado, peeled and sliced in small chunks. Add the lime juice, coriander, salt and pepper. Let it for 10 minutes at room temperature, in order the flavors mix together.

Slice the salmon in small pieces as well and add the lemon peel and the olive oil, salt and pepper.

Take your glass and fill them half with the avocado tartar. Finish with the salmon dices. You can decorate with a spoon or sour cream, pepper and a thin lemon peel. Put it in the fridge till the service.

- 150 gr. of cooked beets roots- 100 gr. of quark - 200 ml of liquid cream- 1 tsp. of wasabi - salt and pepper - 1 smoked eel or mackerel filletFirst, I peel the beet, cut in pieces and mix it with the quark till you get a smooth cream. Add salt and pepper and reserve.Whip the cream with the wasabi (make sure the cream is really cold and also the bowl where you wisk the cream).Cut the eel in small pieces.In the glass, pour first the flashy pink cream, cover with a spoon of wasabi chantilly and top with a small piece of eel. The sweet of the beet and spicy of the wasabi mix is really nice!

3/ Raspberry jelly and its mascarpone mousse verrine- 250 gr. of fresh raspberry- Agar-agar jelly of hibiscus flower- 100 gr. of mascarpone- 25 gr. of sugar- 1 lemon peelFirst prepare the jelly as explained in my recipe of Green Tea Jelly, and replace the green tea by a hibiscus flowers infusion. When the jelly is cooling, pour it in the glasses and drop some raspberries in each glass.

While the jelly is cooling, prepare a mascarpone cream, whisking together the cheese, sugar and the thin peel lemon. When the cream is getting lighter, you can top the jelly with 1 big spoon of mascarpone!

4/ Red fruit sauce and panna cotta in verrineFollow the recipe of the panna cotta but pour the cream in small glasses. Besides, you can prepare the express red fruit sauce and top the panna cotta with it!

5/ Mum's secret apples verrineMy mom came with this recipe, and since I tried it, I always ask her to do it when I come back home!- 4 apples (use better golden apples variety)- 4 tbsp. of vanilla sugar- 25 gr. of butter- 100 gr. of mascarpone - 4 shortbreads or biscuitsPeel the apples and cut it in very small pieces. In a fried pan, put 25 gr. of butter and cook slowly the apples. When they start to get golden, spread 1 tbsp. of sugar and stir 2 more minutes. Take off the heat and reserve.Mix the mascarpone with another table spoon of sugar, and reserve.Prepare a caramel with the rest of sugar and a little spoon of butter, or buy some caramel sauce if you are too lazy!In a glass, put a layer of mascarpone, some shortbread crushed in small pieces, then a layer of caramel, and then a layer of apple. Repeat the layer till the end, and finish with a layer of shortbread!This is like heaven, I can promise!....

I hope you enjoyed reading the recipes, and I hope I can give you some inspiration,... so please let me know your ideas, and share your comments with us!